us277492@mmm.serc.3m.com (Arthur T. Manning) (07/25/90)
More questions about copyright law... I recently typed in the words to several christian songs to allow me to print them out in a nice font for the purpose of making overhead transparencies. I would like to make these available to the christians on the net. One problem...what constitutes breaking of the copyright laws, when the files are transferred, or when someone makes hardcopies of them without permission from the publishers? What am I allowed to do with the songs I find in the songbooks I legally purchased. Now, besides what is 'legal', is it right for Christians to invoke the secular legal system of copyrights to 'protect' their work (see I Cor 6)? What is a person saying when they put this copyright notice on their music for all to see? Aren't they saying "If you reproduce this music of mine of which I have sold the ownership to this publisher, I support the legal action which they can take against you under existing copyright laws."? This doesn't fit with 1 Corinthians 6. I am interested in any Biblical basis of the copyright laws as they exist. Right now, I see them as a hinderance to the work of the music ministry that I'm involved with. What is wrong with copying the words of the song onto transparency so people can join in singing without asking and paying for 'permission' from the people that sold me the songbook? What rights did I purchase in the first place? Ever heard of CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing Incorporated)? They offer a 'service' with which a local church can obtain annual 'permission' to use songs from a large variety of publishers. Part of the application process is to go back through ALL the songs in the music files and tabulate which songs have been put on transparency or any other form (song cards, slides, etc). Toll free number: 1-800-234-2446 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arthur T. Manning atmanning@mmm.serc.3m.com / 3M Center 518-1 \____/_________ St Paul MN 55144-1000 __ , / _ __ __ \ [The copyright laws are broken when you make any copy of copyrighted material without permission. The violation would start with initially keying them into your computer. Intellectual property has a number of difficult implications. But what it comes down to is that people can't make a living doing something unless you pay them. If you take the position than all Christian works should be public domain, you are saying that there can't be professional composers of Christian works, or that you expect them to live by donations. This may be a position you want to take, but you need to understand its implications. Copyright is simply an indication that the work is protected. One could very well copyright something but not ever sue to enforce the copyright. This would be a way to abide by I Cor 6. The purpose of the copyright would be to inform others that this work is by someone who makes his living by writing, and they should not oopy it without payment. Presumably other Christians would believe that "a worker is worthy of his hire" and abide by those wishes. (However experience with music is that this is not always true. The other half of I Cor 6 is that people should act in such a way that suits are not necessary. Music publishers have had to make a difficult choice between suing churches and reducing the number of works they can carry. Churches should not put them in that position.) By the way, if you are interested in doing something with a copyrighted work, you should contact the copyright owner. They generally have procedures to allow you to put copies of works in church bulletins, etc. The charges would be minimal or zero. The same is true with the RSV and any other translation. Copyright simply says that the publisher asserts control over what happens. What they do with that control is up to them. They may give permission for non-commercial use without charge. They may require a nominal fee. Or they may have really unfriendly policies. --clh]